The present invention relates generally to a lighting fixture and in particular to an improvement in such a fixture for use primarily with florescent lights.
Florescent lighting fixtures are a common means of providing light in office buildings, schools, and other structures. While florescent lighting tubes are an efficient means of providing light, the tubes themselves are aesthetically undesirable and are therefore almost always at least partially concealed behind a reflective device.
The reflective device used to conceal the florescent lighting tubes should preferably meet two criteria. First, the device itself must be aesthetically pleasing. Second, the device must have light-reflective qualities so that the device may enhance, rather than diminish, the lighting ability of the florescent tubes.
While many such reflective devices are known in the art, a reflective device called a louvre has been especially popular in the interior design of office buildings and similar structures. Louvres are generally formed from any metallic material that may provide a highly reflective surface. Typically, louvres may be formed from an aluminum compound which may provide polished surfaces able to reflect the light provided by florescent tubes.
Although louvres have been a popular way to fulfill the need for a reflective device to be used in connection with a lighting fixture, the louvres known in the art have several disadvantages. Initially, assembly of louvres typical of those known in the art has been very labor-intensive and therefore expensive to manufacture.
In addition, the louvres known in the art are generally comprised of a number of individual components which must engage and interlock to produce a single reflective device. The seams formed by the juncture of these separate components are often inexact.
When a louvre is installed into a florescent lighting fixture, the junction of each member of the louvre, and therefore each seam, is exposed and is clearly visible. If the seams are inexact and are flawed by gaps, or if the seams pinch or deform the material of the members immediately adjacent to the seam, the aesthetic quality of the louvre is greatly diminished. Further, the reflective ability of a louvre having inexact and flawed seams is significantly reduced.
Thus, prior art louvres have demonstrated various disadvantages which have heretofore not been overcome.